Welcome, everyone, to the fifth meeting in 2009. We have a full house. Could everyone turn off their mobile phones and so on?

As with the previous budget bill, which we considered on 13 January, a single delegated power is granted to the Scottish ministers at section 7, which confers the power to make delegated legislation to amend the amounts specified in certain provisions. As is customary with budget bills, any such order will be subject to affirmative procedure. Are we agreed that the delegated power is acceptable and, if so, do we agree to report to the Parliament on that basis?

Are we agreed that the reasons supplied by the Scottish Government for the failure to comply with the 21-day rule, which is set out in article 10(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Statutory Instruments) Order 1999 (SI 1999/1096), are satisfactory, and to report accordingly?

It is proposed that we report the order to the lead committee and to the Parliament on the following grounds: that the Scottish Government has admitted that there was a failure to expedite the publication of the order, which was not published until after it came into force, and has indicated that it will work with the office of the Queen's printer for Scotland to ensure that that does not happen again; that the Committee's view is that it would have been possible to specify the date that the order comes into force on the face of the order rather than by referring to the related English order, and that we consider that that approach would have been more transparent and accessible for the reader; and that article 5(2) contains a drafting error that has been acknowledged by the Scottish Government but which is not thought to affect the legal operation or effect of the instrument. Are we agreed?

Are we agreed that the explanation provided by the Government is only partially satisfactory and, if so, do we agree to report the order to the lead committee and the Parliament on the basis that an explanation was obtained from the Scottish Government with which the committee is only partly satisfied, but that we do not wish to draw attention to the order in relation to any ground within our remit?